Arc VII Champion Roster Discussion Underway

As preparations for Arc VII continue, I’ve created a discussion thread on the forum in order to invite community comments on rosters. This evening, I gathered together the suggestions from that thread and created a synthesis GDoc. You’re all encouraged to come have your say.

As a refresher, I’ve written up a short summary of our basic roster rules and principles.

Tiers

Champions are divided into three tiers of affiliation with each faction.

Core. These Champions are so strongly connected to the faction that their absence would be strange. Factions almost always start with at least their full Core list.

Secondary. These Champions have enough of a connection that their presence on the roster would be unobjectionable, though their absence would not be particularly problematic. Factions may start with some of their Secondary Champions. They’re also fairly easy to recruit during the arc.

Tertiary. These Champions have a very weak connection to the faction. Their presence is going to be somewhat odd, and will require some explanation. Factions have a very limited ability to recruit one or two of these Champions per arc. Recruiting Tertiary Champions is more costly than recruiting Secondary Champions.

Factors

The tier descriptions above reference “connections”. We use three criteria to measure “connections” between a Champion and a faction.

Story. Perhaps the most obvious factor is the Champion’s lore: their background, their appearances in the Journal of Justice or other such materials, and their actions in past Factions arcs.

Theme/Feel. Notice that the tiers are defined largely in terms of a hypothetical viewer’s reaction to the Champion’s presence or absence. Theme (or “Feel”) refers to the Champion’s overall tone: their appearance, their out-of-universe connotations (e.g. any “fantasy Asia” Champion will have bonus Theme points for Ionia), their voicework, their attitude. A Champion with a modest Story link and a strong Theme connection is a good candidate for a Secondary.

Gameplay. Each faction tends to have its own distinctive playstyle. A Champion that synergizes with that playstyle, or otherwise makes the faction more interesting to play as or against, gets some extra points. (Note that a Champion who fills in a conspicuous gap in the roster is more likely to lose points from Gameplay: eliminating weaknesses tends to homogenize factions.)

7 comments on “Arc VII Champion Roster Discussion Underway”

Hope to see Evelynn for Noxus. Even though she is stated to have connection to Shadow Isles, she is firstly “one of the most deadly – and expensive – assasins in all of Runeterra”. Imo its great secondary pick for Noxus. Adds jungle that is lacking in their ranks, has low IP cost, and fits better than Elise.